Travel, and its corresponding tourism revenues, provides large economic benefits for many countries around the world. As traveling becomes more accessible and even cheaper for the average person, individuals continue to take trips away from their homes in large numbers. Whether traveling by plane, car, or cruise ship, most travel requires individuals to stay in an establishment that provides housing accommodations. Whether a hotel room, ship cabin, or a rented house, these accommodations allow the traveler to store their clothes and other personal belongings in a secure location while they are exploring their chosen destination.
Upon arriving at his/her destination, a traveler requires checking into the living accommodations. This process requires transporting luggage and other personnel belongings from their car to their room. Typically, the traveler unpacks his/her luggage and other personal belongings from the car and loads the luggage and other personnel belongings onto a luggage cart. Whether the individual traveler performs this procedure or hotel personnel are responsible, utilization of the luggage cart makes transporting such items easier and quicker, and reduces the risk of injury from carrying heavy items.
While luggage carts are a tremendous help in moving luggage and other personnel belongings to a traveler's room, the function of these carts, i.e. transportation of large items, often require them to take up a large amount of space. In addition, because hotels do not want their guests to be waiting in the lobby area, they often utilize a large number of the luggage carts. This is particularly true for large resort areas that have a large amount of guests coming and going at any given time. One of the problems with having a large number of these carts is finding a space large enough to store them. As the luggage carts are stored in a back to back or side to side orientation, the storage area must be big enough to accommodate such storage orientations. Even in hotels that do not require having large numbers of the carts, storage of even two units can require more space than desired.
What is needed in the art is a luggage cart configured to nest with like-constructed carts, thereby reducing the space required to store the carts when not in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,733,765 describes an airport cart adapted for carrying carry-on luggage and personal items divested prior to a security check point. The cart is described as including a lower luggage tray or shelf and a pair of vertical supports which extend upward from a rear portion of this tray or a horizontal portion of the cart frame. The cart may have dual handles extending rearward in a spaced-apart manner from the vertical supports, such that the handles are parallel to each other and do not block vertical loading of the luggage tray. The cart includes one, two, or more storage or security screening bins that are fixed to or detachably mounted on the vertical supports or the handles. One or more of the storage bins may be compatible with conventional airport screening bins. The bins are horizontally offset from the luggage tray and each other to facilitate unobstructed 3-D screening of bags and items in the bins.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,860,493 teaches a nestable cart described as having a base or platform supported on caster wheels and sides which taper inwardly from the rear end to the front end of the platform. An upwardly extending handle frame extends upwardly from the rear end of the cart. An open area beneath the platform is designed to receive the front end of a platform of a second cart in order to nest two carts together. A nesting guide formation is provided at one end of the platform to guide two platforms into nesting engagement while lifting the rear wheels of a front cart from the ground during nesting of a rear cart into the front cart. The guide formation may be one or more rotating members such as rollers or guide wheels.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,029 teaches a flat bed cart described as having a flat, wheeled platform with a front end and a rear end, and an upwardly extending handle frame extending upwardly from the rear end of the platform. The platform has a forward, fixed deck portion and a rear, liftable deck portion having a forward end hinged to the fixed deck portion for rotation about a first horizontal hinge axis extending transverse to the longitudinal axis of the platform. The rear deck portion is movable between a first position co-planar with the forward deck portion for use in transporting items supported on the platform, and a second, raised position when another cart is nested into the rear end of the platform.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,764,419 teaches a light, rigid cart structure described as being suitable for transporting luggage about in a railway or bus station, the cart structure being designed to facilitate nesting relation between carts of similar construction, whereby a minimum amount of area is required for parking or storing the devices.